


Rings

by holtz_gives_no_flux



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Some Thoughts i had about wedding rings, because it just keeps coming my dude, idk man, just some fluff, married holtzbert, now with a bonus chapter, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-28
Updated: 2017-03-05
Packaged: 2018-09-27 09:51:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10001825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/holtz_gives_no_flux/pseuds/holtz_gives_no_flux
Summary: Holtzmann isn't gonna just BUY a ring, she's an engineer. Erin is looking for a ring that is as crazy as the woman she's marrying.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my god? You guys are great? You actually read my stuff? So have some more I guess!  
> I have a chapter about Holtzmann's ring that's almost done, i should have it up by the end of the week.
> 
> Love ya, Enjoy!

Erin’s wedding ring was silver. A simple band was all she wanted; she insisted she liked the simplicity. Holtz had other ideas.

First and foremost, she wanted to make Erin's ring, because of course she did. Erin was thrilled until Holtz started pitching ideas about making rings out of Hafnium to get that weird purple shine and to make sure that at least Erin’s ring finger would be protected from accidental neutron radiation (which, to be honest, was not an unfounded concern), or to make them out of miniature gas discharge tubes with tiny batteries that they glowed like neon signs, or that conversation she had with Abby about a jewel thief who owed them a favor, and how big a rock she thought they could get.

Erin insisted that simple was better, so Holtz took the silver control rods out of the first reactor she ever built and melted them down, forging them into a ring, and because she really did think it needed a diamond, she grabbed a small, industrial grade diamond, a pretty grey/green one she had picked out of the batch for a special occasion, and pressed it into the cooling metal. The rough matte rock didn’t stick out much, but it was a nice touch. Erin loved it. She knew where the diamond came from - Holtz made batches of them fairly often to cut things with, and she would always pick out a couple of the more colorful ones and set them on the windowsill - but Holtz never told her where she got the metal. Erin never told her that she had Holtzmann’s initials engraved on the inside of her ring, either, but they both found out anyway.

Erin found out about her irradiated metal via Abby. As it turns out, shutting down a prototype reactor and avoiding contamination is a two man job, and Holtz had enlisted Abby’s help to do it. When she asked why Holtz was taking apart her favorite little reactor, she didn’t really answer, just mumbled about it ‘going to a better place’. The reactor, which was fueled by Uranium Holtz had scrounged out of smoke detectors, sat in a corner of the lab in what was basically a glorified fish tank. The machine happily glowed a pretty Cherenkov blue and Holtz and Abby both were very fond of it. As Holtz prepared to flood the fuel chamber with Xenon and effectively extinguish the flickering chain reaction, Abby stopped her.

“Holtzmann, stop, why are you doing this?” She asked.

“Because, Abs. It must be done.” Holtz replied dramatically.

“But  _ why _ ?”

“I need something from it for… something else.” She dodged, gesturing vaguely at the glowing machine.

“What could you possibly need?” Abby said, and Holtzmann brought her fist to her forehead, squeezing her eyes shut.

“I need the- the silver- the control rods, they have to come out, I need them.”

“For what!? What could you possibly need it for!? We can get silver, Holtz. YOU, of all people can get silver. Get it somewhere else!”

“No. nonono, it’s has to be  _ this _ silver, Abs,” Holtzmann said, with great conviction, taking Abby’s face in her hands. “It’s for Erin.”

Realization dawned on Abby’s face as Holtz let go and went back over to where the reactor was waiting to be shutdown.

“In that case, you’re right, it’s going to a better place.” She said. “Erin’s gonna love it, Holtz.” she added, giving her hand a squeeze before putting on her gloves and diving into the machine.

About a week after the wedding, Erin came into the kitchen looking worried. Abby was drinking coffee and jotting notes about what they might need for future busts as Erin hurried over to the sink and let out a sigh of relief as she picked up her ring from the side of the sink where she had set it down to do dishes.

“Where’s the fire?” Abby teased as Erin put her ring back on.

“I took my ring off to do dishes, I can’t believe I left it here. I thought I had lost it… God, I can’t even imagine what I would do if I lost this ring.” She said, shuddering at the thought.

“Yeah, you only build your first reactor once.” Abby said a little absentmindedly as she flipped the page in her notebook. Erin just looked confused.

“You only… what?” She asked, causing Abby to look up.

“You know, your ring?” She said, smiling, “Holtz’s reactor?” Erin just raised her eyebrows in confusion. “Oh my god, she didn’t tell you.” Abby realized out loud.

“She didn’t… what? Tell me what?” Erin asked.

“Huh. Well maybe she didn’t want you to know.” Abby pondered for a second before shaking her head. “That sentimental idiot, you should know.”

“Then tell me!”

“The silver from your ring used to be the superconductor in Holtz’s little reactor.”

“The one in the fish tank? I was wondering where that went.”

“It was the first reactor she ever built, back in college. It paid for her to go to MIT, it literally brought her here.”

Erin didn’t know if she wanted to smile or to cry, so her face just split the difference and she was left opening and closing her mouth like a guppy with nothing to say.

“Wow, that’s…” She finally managed.

“Yeah.” Abby said. “She really loves you, Erin.”

Erin was dumbstruck. Holtz was always a surprise, but  _this_... sometimes Erin forgot that there was a part of Holtz that was quiet and deep and gentle and soft. It was easy to forget, sometimes, because Holtz had such a bright and shiny personality, but here was evidence of it, right here on her hand. She was attracted to Holtzmann's charm and bravado, but she fell in love with the woman who took apart her favorite contraption just so that her ring would be special. Her heart swelled with love for her wife as she grinned down at her hand.

"The feeling is mutual." She said, looking up when Holtz swished by in a lab coat. "The feeling is  _so_ mutual."

Realizing who she had just seen, Holtz turned on her heel and poked her head in the door.

"Oh hi, Erin! Good morning!" She greeted, grinning and blowing a kiss. "And hi Abby, too." She added, waving. She waited for an answer, but Erin was just gazing at her with a peaceful, gorgeous, in love little smile on her face. The intensity of it was throwing her off.

"...what?" She asked nervously, never the wiser that her wife was falling more in love with her every day.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one's about Htzmanns ring, yay.

Holtz’s ring was surprisingly delicate in design for someone who thought Pringles were a food group. It was Erin's choice. She had thought at first that Holtz might not even want a ring - she had never seen her wear one - but when she watched Holtz work she sometimes got distracted by her hands and wondered what they would look like with a ring. With  _ her _ ring. The idea made the corners of her lip twitch into a shy smile.

But what if Holtz didn't want a ring? It wouldn't be surprising, Holtz was hardly a traditional sort of person. It wasn't really a big deal, right? Holtz was Holtz and that's why Erin loved her. For her originality and nonconformity and unabashed sense of self. Holtz didn't wear rings, and that was ok. What was a ring anyway? Just a piece of metal, just a symbol. _A symbol of love, and commitment,_  a small voice inside her mumbled _._ But just jewelry, really. Right? 

Despite her best efforts, she caught herself thinking about it more and more as the wedding got closer. It wasn't that she doubted Holtz's love, or her commitment, or anything like that; she was happier than she had been in a very long time . It was just a nagging thought in the back of her head, that when she pictured being married, she had loved the idea of the wedding ring. She could remember trying on her mother's ring when she would take it off to knead biscuits. It was the only piece of jewelry the plain, severe woman ever wore, but she only ever took it off when she had to. For some reason, that stuck with Erin. It was her white picket fence. Part of her wanted to talk to Holtz, but she didn't want to make a big deal about it, either.  Luckily, Holtz put her mind at rest well before she had the chance.

It was a small moment, after dinner at Holtzmann's apartment. Erin loved going over to Holtzmann's apartment. It had the same movement and noise that the lab had, but it was cozy and private and so unbelievably  _ Holtzmann _ that it was becoming one of Erin's favorite places in the world. She was spending more and more time there, and although both of them had practically moved into the firehouse, it was still nice to be able to come home to Holtzmann's big brown leather couch, her collection of 50's diner mugs, her milk crates full of everything from pringles to computer parts to tools to laundry, and the cardboard cutout of Elvis beside her TV, which had tin foil on the bunny ears despite only being connected to an xbox.

After they had eaten dinner, Erin settled down on the couch with a cup of tea and a book, absentmindedly flipping on the TV to food network for Holtz, who was in her room rummaging around for tools. With a metallic jingle, Holtz vaulted over the back of the couch and threw some parts and tools on the coffee table. Erin raised an eyebrow at the commotion, but smiled as Holtz pulled a screwdriver out of her hair where she had tucked it and laid her blond head down in Erin's lap, feet draped over the arm of the couch. Then she grabbed what appeared to be a motor of some kind with all sorts of different colored wires poking out and started stabbing the screwdriver into it.

"Aw, babe, you put on food network for me?"

"Well I know Chopped is on, and you wouldn't want to miss that." Erin said, giving a small smile down to her lap.

"You're the best." Holtz said, throwing one of her hundred megawatt grins up at Erin and trying to sit up and kiss her, but only making it to the bottom of her chin.

Most nights they would watch a movie or talk about research or commentate food network, but every once in awhile, they would just share comfortable silence. They were like 2 toddlers, content to sit back to back and play in their own worlds. Erin's hands played with Holtzmann's hair as she read, puling bobby pins out and massaging her scalp. Holtz worked on, yanking out wires and setting them on her stomach. 

As the night wore on, Erin started reading the same sentence over and over and had to put the book down. She smiled to herself as she watched Holtz get sleepy too, despite how hard she was trying not to be. She would remove a screw and set it on the coffee table, then get distracted by the TV and forget what she was doing, before going back and removing the next one. Then she set her project down on her chest altogether and just watched her show, twirling and bending a scrap of wire around her fingers.

A moment later, a giggle from Erin's lap made her look down.

"What do you think? Holtz asked, holding up her left hand for Erin to see and wagging her fingers. She had pulled the insulation off of one of the thin copper wires from the motor and had wrapped it around her left ring finger several times. 

"God, I can't wait to have one of these." She said, mostly to herself.

"Jill?" Erin asked.

At the use of her first name, Holtz dropped her hand and her grin and turned to look up at Erin, expecting something to be wrong. Instead, Erin was looking at her in a way that made her feel like nobody else had except maybe Dr. Gorin. Like she was wanted and loved and something extraordinary.

"What?" She asked back, not sure what she was expecting, but sure that she was blushing.

"I love you." Erin said.

"Uh huh," Holtz replied, expecting the sentence to continue.

"That's all....Yep, just wanted to tell you. Nothing else, just thought you should know."

Holtz was a little confused, but Erin was still beaming, so she just reached up and patted her cheek.

"Uh, I love you too, babe."

Erin picked Holtzmann's hand back up and kissed it, then held it out to look at it. She was surprised to see that her little wire ring actually suited her very well. Holtz had strong, rough hands, but they were surprisingly thin and gentle and the ring accented them perfectly. Seeing Holtz with a ring on, with her head in Erin's lap and her hair around Erin's fingers made Erin absolutely melt.

"Would you actually wear a ring?" She asked, still a little doubtful but mostly just curious now.

"What?" Holtzmann asked, shocked, "Of course! I've been thinking about it ever since I proposed."

"Really?"

"For sure."

"But you never wear rings."

"Erin. My love." Holtzmann began,  "let me ask you this: have you ever seen a degloved finger?"

This caught Erin a little by surprise.

"Um, no? No, I don't think I have."

"Well, let me just assure you, it's the stuff nightmares are made of." Holtz said, getting serious as she continued, talking quickly and passionately in that way that Erin could get lost in. "Most people don't realize, but your skin, and you know, muscles and stuff are a lot less tough than a metal ring, even a soft metal like silver or gold, and uh, when you do lots of work with things that move fast, or you know, rotate, stuff like that, yeah, well you can rip the skin right off the bone and get left with just a little Jack skele-hand. Way gross. No fun. Terrifying."

Holtzmann's eyes were wide with dramatized terror, and Erin was looking at her like a puzzle she was never going to solve.

It was safety, after all. It made perfect sense that Holtz wouldn't wear rings. She could see it now. General safety and apparently a deep-seated fear of getting her finger ripped off by machinery, which Erin couldn't quite identify with but certainly understood. 

"But you would wear a wedding ring?" She asked as a follow up, because  _she_ certainly didn't want to be responsible for putting Holtzmann's hands in danger.

"Well obviously," Holtz said, "since the only reason I don't wear any rings now is cause I forget I'm wearing them, but how could I ever forget being married to the world's greatest physicist?"

She said it like the matter was settled, her sleepy eyes back to where Gordon Ramsey was berating a diner owner with a nasty attitude.

Erin supposed the matter  _was_ settled; Holtz had stopped her worries even before she voiced them. She was excited to be married and wear Erin's ring, and she was falling asleep in the lap of the happiest woman in the world. A woman who was now wandering through every jewelry store she came across, looking for something as wonderful as the woman she was marrying.

After weeks of nothing jumping out to her, she walked into not a jewelry store, but a pawn shop - the top floor of which they had just pulled a ghost out of - and on habit waked to the jewelry case to have a look. Looking back at her was a simple silver ring that looked like someone had taken a bit of solder or electrical wire and wound it around their finger a few times, then taken it off and set it in the case. Erin immediately remembered the night it Holtzmann's apartment and knew it was perfect. 

It was just like she always imagined. Better, even, seeing Holtz asleep in her bed-  _their_  bed. Not like she slept when they first met, when she would just collapse fully clothed into whatever space was available, but how she was after Erin; asleep in nothing but a t-shirt that was way too big for her (Erin was pretty sure it used to be Patty's), sprawled out on her back with one hand tucked into curls that she had allowed Erin to pull the pins out of until they fell free, and the other hand laying out over the sheets, wedding ring and all. 

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is just a lil bonus chapter made of stuff that didn't fit in the other chapters but I couldn't just let sit on my computer. I just sat down and wrote it, it's not very heavily edited, so bear with it.  
> Thanks for reading my stuff you guys!
> 
> Love ya, enjoy!

The wedding was small. Erin wore a white dress and was so nervous she threw up twice. Holtz wore a beautiful white tailcoat tuxedo and although she was pretending otherwise, Abby and Patty could tell she was nervous too. They were getting married on the roof of the firehouse, and while Erin got ready upstairs, Holtz paced and tried not to get grease on anything white. When Abby came down to get something, Holtz stopped her, looking uncharacteristically serious, hands moving nervously and asked,

“Abby, is she still up there? Does she still want to marry me?” And Abby’s heart broke just a little bit. 

“Yes Holtzmann, yes, she is still up there waiting very impatiently to marry you.” She replied, and watched relief flood the other woman’s features. Abby smiled and watched as Holtz went back to doing Holtz things, this time quietly mumbling a tuneless song as she went.

“Erin wants to marry me and she’s upstairs getting super pretty and I’m gonna have such a smart pretty wife today and its Errriiinnnnnnn”

As she turned to go back upstairs and fulfill her duties as maid of honor, Patty came out of the bathroom in her suit; tails like Holtz, but black, and with a skirt instead, a la Judy Garland. Abby laughed.

“Lookin good, Patty!” She called as she ascended the stairs. Walking out to the full length mirror, Patty whistled at herself as she smoothed out her jacket. “Damn! No kidding! I see why you do the whole tuxedo thing, Holtzy, it’s a good look!” She said, and Holtz walked over to look, hands jammed in her pockets.

“Heh. Told ya so.” She said, smirking.

When the time came and Erin came up the stairs, through the open double doors draped in christmas lights onto the roof, Holtzmann’s hand flew to her mouth before she had a chance to stop it. Abby giggled and Patty clapped her on the back.

“That’s your girl, Holtzmann!” Patty whispered, and even though it was most decidedly uncool, a couple tears squeezed out of Holtzmann’s eyes at the thought of getting married to the angel of a woman who had just ascended the stairs. She had her hands out to take Erins before she was even halfway there. She took Erin’s hands in hers and despite the explosion in her chest and the stubborn wetness in her eyes, they didn’t really have the time for Holtz to give a speech, so to try and diffuse the nervous tension on Erin face she settled with a quiet, 

“You clean up nice, Gilbert”, that had them all laughing at the understatement of the century.

At ‘you may now kiss the bride’, Holtz wasted no time in grabbing Erin by the waist and dipping her toward Abby as they kissed. Abby got a great picture of them that was remarkably reminiscent of the famous kiss picture from VJ day that Patty had a poster of. Abby had black and white prints made for both of them. Erin’s was framed on her desk, Holtz’s was tucked into the corner of her chalkboard, beside the nail she hung her ring on when she was working. It was the only time Holtz ever took it off. 

She loved it, and she knew how much Erin loved seeing her wear it. And how important it was to her. Erin pretended it wasn't a big deal, but the significance wasn't lost on Holtz. 

Holtz didn’t know about the addition to Erin's ring until they had been married for well over a year.

Erin had left her ring on the bathroom sink (to shower this time - she knew exactly where it was), and Holtz, who had hopped up on the sink to chat about whether or not they had time to stop at Krispy Kreme before work, picked up up Erins ring absentmindedly to try it on. She held it out and wiggled her fingers, smiling at her handiwork. She took it back off and rolled it in her hand, inspecting the stone to make sure it wasn’t coming loose and making sure the metal was still shiny. She almost missed it, but the little scratches on the inside of the band caught her eye. JLH. Whatever she was saying stopped mid sentence. A few seconds of silence propmted a worried ‘Holtz?’ from the shower.

“Yeah.” She replied, running her fingers over her initials.

“You ok?” Erin asked. Was she ok? She was swinging her feet on the sink in the apartment she shared with her wife (wife!), who was the most talented and beautiful person she had ever known, who loved her this much. Holtz swallowed around the strange lump that had suddenly jumped into her throat before replying,

“Yeah, never better.”

**Author's Note:**

> Holtz for sure had a diamond press. Idk, seems legit.


End file.
